There is a current issue that has caught my interest. It is a case before the Supreme Court about school integration plans in Oregon and Kentucky.
White parents have gone to court to challenge school plans in their districts that use race to achieve a racial balance in line with the racial ratio of the community. In doing so, they are prohibiting parents from sending their children to schools that they want, specifically, to the schools in their own districts and therefore close to home.
Historically, certain states in the union separated children according to race when it came to education. In these states you had black and white schools or the separate but equal formula. The Supreme Court in the Brown vs., Board of Education landmark ruling said the practice was despicable and violated the equal treatment under the law provision of our Constitution.
The court found that indeed the black schools were separate but not equal and that forcibly separating the races in schools negatively impacted the black students. For this reason they banned the use of race as a factor in how our school systems operated.
Following that decision, we had a pretty contentious time when federal courts ordered “forced busing” in an attempt to desegregate the schools in the country.
Since those days, the need for court ordered school desegregation has gone. Schools are legally prohibited from segregating according to race.
But what has happened in our society is that people settled in communities according to race so you have black, white and mixed communities. In the black and white communities, the schools are de facto segregated. Detroit is a good example where 80% of the population is black and so are the schools. In fact in Detroit, the schools are more like 90% black since many white parents and some black, send their children to private schools.
Communities like Seattle and Kentucky where the racial divide is not so one sided but maybe 60/40 either way, feel it beneficial to maintain that ratio in their schools even if they have to bus children out of their own school district.
There is no argument that a racially diverse school population is good for the students; that has been proven over and over again. But if race is legally NOT to be used as a governing factor in how schools are populated; can the school plans be challenged legally.
I think parents have every right to send their kids (K-12) to the nearest school to their home, if that is what they wish. Many move to certain communities specifically to be part of that communities’ school system. I know here in Canton-Plymouth, the excellence of the school system is what drives the property values higher and higher and attracts parents looking for good schools. Is that a problem? Many black families move here for that very reason, well maybe not that many but some.
Diversity is good for our school children but should it be forced? I think legally, the Brown vs. Board of Education decision should be closely read as no race factor allowed.
Should society be allowed to develop naturally or do we want to meddle with it – good question.
White parents have gone to court to challenge school plans in their districts that use race to achieve a racial balance in line with the racial ratio of the community. In doing so, they are prohibiting parents from sending their children to schools that they want, specifically, to the schools in their own districts and therefore close to home.
Historically, certain states in the union separated children according to race when it came to education. In these states you had black and white schools or the separate but equal formula. The Supreme Court in the Brown vs., Board of Education landmark ruling said the practice was despicable and violated the equal treatment under the law provision of our Constitution.
The court found that indeed the black schools were separate but not equal and that forcibly separating the races in schools negatively impacted the black students. For this reason they banned the use of race as a factor in how our school systems operated.
Following that decision, we had a pretty contentious time when federal courts ordered “forced busing” in an attempt to desegregate the schools in the country.
Since those days, the need for court ordered school desegregation has gone. Schools are legally prohibited from segregating according to race.
But what has happened in our society is that people settled in communities according to race so you have black, white and mixed communities. In the black and white communities, the schools are de facto segregated. Detroit is a good example where 80% of the population is black and so are the schools. In fact in Detroit, the schools are more like 90% black since many white parents and some black, send their children to private schools.
Communities like Seattle and Kentucky where the racial divide is not so one sided but maybe 60/40 either way, feel it beneficial to maintain that ratio in their schools even if they have to bus children out of their own school district.
There is no argument that a racially diverse school population is good for the students; that has been proven over and over again. But if race is legally NOT to be used as a governing factor in how schools are populated; can the school plans be challenged legally.
I think parents have every right to send their kids (K-12) to the nearest school to their home, if that is what they wish. Many move to certain communities specifically to be part of that communities’ school system. I know here in Canton-Plymouth, the excellence of the school system is what drives the property values higher and higher and attracts parents looking for good schools. Is that a problem? Many black families move here for that very reason, well maybe not that many but some.
Diversity is good for our school children but should it be forced? I think legally, the Brown vs. Board of Education decision should be closely read as no race factor allowed.
Should society be allowed to develop naturally or do we want to meddle with it – good question.
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